Amazon Uses Robots To Speed Up Human 'Pickers' In Fulfillment Centers

cagraham writes "The WSJ, combing through Amazon's Q3 earnings report, found that the company is currently using 1,400 robots across three of their fulfillment centers. The machines are made by Kiva Systems (a company acquired by Amazon last year), and help to warehouses more efficient by bringing the product shelves to the workers. The workers then select the right item from the shelf, box it, and place it on the conveyor line, while another shelf is brought. The management software that runs the robots can speed or slow down item pacing, reroute valuable orders to more experienced workers, and redistribute workloads to prevent backlogs."

Comments

Brilliant investigative journalism

[subreality]

Yes, it's incredible how Amazon is using something exactly as intended after they bought it.

all automated

[Neo-Rio-101]

Soon the picker will be automated, and then the self-driving car will deliver (or the autopilot drone)

Pretty soon the customer will be a robot too

Re:And The Winner Is?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're using ghettos as your basis for concluding that idleness leads to violence and chaos? Last I checked, ghettos tended to be full of people living in poverty and despair, hence why they live in ghettos. I'm not sure the utopian ideal of people producing art and things for the betterment of society in their idle time is based on the assumption that the people with plenty of time also happen to have no possessions, are living day to day and trying hard not to die of starvation/exposure/disease.

Re:What an awesome place to work!

[dkleinsc]

Not really surprising: Workers who talk to each other might start making friends, and eventually realize how much management is screwing them over, and then go on to form a union and force management to improve pay or benefits or working conditions. A basic rule when trying to oppress people is that you do everything in your power to keep the oppressed from organizing, and cutting off communication between them is a standard way of doing that.

And this kind of rule is standard operating procedure in sweatshops around the world for exactly the same reason.